More wet weather ahead for Eureka; despite wet weather, Humboldt County still in drought

Rain will continue to fall on Humboldt County throughout the weekend and into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

But don't let it fool you -- we're still in a drought, experts say.

There was six-tenths of an inch of rain on Tuesday and three-tenths of an inch of rainfall for Wednesday, with about another one-tenth of an inch expected to fall today, according to meteorologist Jeff Tonkin. There will be a bit of a break in the rain today, but the weekend will be fairly wet.

"The rain will start to come in Friday afternoon and rain all night into much of Saturday morning," Tonkin said. "We're expecting 2 to 4 inches across Northwest California, and 1.5 inches of that will be in Eureka, and there could be more."

Tonkin added that Sunday will be fairly dry, and another storm will head in Monday and Tuesday.

Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District business manager John Friedenbach said the Ruth Lake Reservoir has been at full capacity since the storms from a few weeks ago.

"As far as drinking water is concerned, we're out of the drought for the districts and municipalities we serve," Friedenbach said. "Once the reservoir is full, we have over a year's worth of drinking water. So we're in good standing, thanks to Mother Nature."

This month has seen about 4.5 inches of rainfall so far, compared to 2.5 inches for March 2013, according to Tonkin.

"We're still in a drought, and are about 50 percent of normal right now," Tonkin said. "Last year by March, we had 27.76 inches, and this year, we are at 16.93 inches."

Agriculture Commissioner Jeff Dolf said the U.S. Drought Monitor -- which tracks the weekly drought conditions -- indicates that Humboldt County is still in an extreme drought.

"The rainfall we've been receiving is very helpful, and we are just beginning to see the grasslands and ranges recover," Dolf said. "If the rain continues, it will help take the pressure off the producers that have had to buy hay to feed their cattle. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as we feared, and people won't have lost as much as we feared."

Tonkin said the area will see rainfall off and on for the rest of the month.

"Either way you slice it, we're below where we were last year and where we normally should be," Tonkin said.